Already Settled

I love watching soccer on television and am a fan of Liverpool Football Club. When the Reds are playing, it is an anxiety-filled experience because the outcome of the game could turn at any moment. That emotional buildup is part of what makes the games fun to watch. However, when I recently watched a tape-delayed replay of one of Liverpool’s games, I was surprised by how much more calm I felt watching the replay as opposed to watching the game live. Why? Because I already know the outcome and, as a result, was set free to just enjoy the action.
Life is often like one of those live televised matches. There are shocks and surprises, frustration and fear because we are uncertain of the outcomes that hang in the balance. Followers of Christ can draw comfort, however, from the fact that, though many of life’s short-term outcomes are uncertain, our eternal outcome is settled by the work of Christ. The apostle John wrote, “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God” (1 John 5:13). Life may present us with myriads of surprises along the way, but in Christ we can have peace—our eternal outcome is already settled.
Bill Crowder, Sports Spectrum Chaplain